CHAPTER XXII--THE REFORM ACTS



The new life brought an inevitable demand for a share in the
government of the country, and this brought the old order and the new
face to face. The political power was entirely in the hands of the
squires, alienated from the peasants in many cases by a difference of
language, and in most cases by a difference of religion.

The Act of 1535 had, as we have seen, given Wales a representation in
Parliament. Each shire had one member only; except Monmouth, which
had two. Each shire town had one member, except that of Merioneth;
and Haverfordwest was given a member. The county franchise was the
forty shilling freehold; it therefore excluded not only those who had
no connection with the land, but the copyholder--who was really a
landowner, but whose tenure was regarded as base, on account of his
villein origin. This copyholder was undoubtedly the descendant of
the Welsh serf of mediaeval times.

The first Reform Act, that of 1832, was won for the great
manufacturing towns of England, but Wales benefited by it. It
extended the franchise to the copyholder, and to the farmer paying 50
pounds rent, in the counties; it gave the towns a uniform 10 pounds
household franchise. It also brought many of the towns into the
system of representation. It raised the number of members from
twenty-seven to thirty-two; the agricultural districts getting two,
and the mining districts two.